Invisible Women of Science

Why in News?

• Recently, the latest set of winners for the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize was announced.
• For the second time in a row, CSIR failed to honour a single woman scientist for outstanding contribution to science and technology.

Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar (SSB) Prize

• Instituted in 1958 by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), about 12 scientists under the age of 45 years win this prize every year.
• The prizes cover seven domains of science; physical, chemical, biological, medical, engineering, mathematics and atmospheric.
• It is known to be a significant boost not just to the scientific career of the winner but also to the profile of their institution. 

Major Drawback of SSB Prize: Consistent Failure to Recognise Women Scientists

• Asima Chatterjee was the first woman to win it in the Chemical Sciences category in 1961.
• It took 14-year-long wait for the next woman laureate, and a 48-year-long wait for a woman to win it in her category.
• The 23 winners across disciplines in 2021 and 2022 are all men. This means that only 19 out of the almost 600 awarded Bhatnagar prizes have gone to women scientists.
• The Nobel Prizes have a similarly pathetic gender ratio. Only 24 of the 343 science prizes have gone to women.
• However, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the prizes, has indicated that they are conscious of the gap.
• Encouragingly, 31 of the 61 Nobel prizes for women (across all categories) came since the year 2000. There are no comparably encouraging signs from the SSB awards.

Reason Behind the Failure to Recognise Women Scientists

• Opaque Selection Process
  • A scientist stands a chance at a SSB award only if they are nominated by those at the very top, including vice-chancellors, directors, presidents of academies, deans, members of the governing body of CSIR, as well as former winners.
  • The reason so few women win awards lies in the selection process. People nominating for prizes are predominantly men who fail to nominate their women colleagues.
• Lack of Public Accountability
  • The composition of the Advisory Committee, tasked with picking the winners, has always been wrapped in secrecy, making them immune to public accountability.
  • This is in contrast to the Infosys Science Prize, which lists and even celebrates its jury chairs on its website.

Share of Women in Science in India

• Department of Science and Technology (DST) Data
  • The number of women principal investigators in R&D had risen more than four times from 232 in 2000-01 to 941 in 2016-17.
  • The percentage of women among researchers went from 13.9% in 2015 to 18.7% in 2018.
  • While the overall data show an upward trend, women researchers in engineering and technology are fewer than in natural sciences, health and agriculture.
  • The percentage of women researchers in the social sciences and humanities is, however, much higher at 36.4%.
  • Participation (of women) is healthy till the postgraduate level. But there is a drop at the post-doctoral level, where most of the research takes place. 
  • Even though this too has increased, it is still far less than the 30% global average
• All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2019
  • According to AISHE, 53% women participate in science education at Bachelor’s and 55% at Master’s levels respectively.
  • But at doctoral level, women graduate at 44% lagged behind men at 56%.

Steps Taken by the Government to Fill the Gender Disparity in Science

• Indo-US Fellowship for Women in STEMM (WISTEMM) Programme: This provides a chance to women scientists to work and carry out their research in the US.
• Consolidation of University Research for Innovation and Excellence in Women Universities (CURIE) Programme: This aims to improve R&D infrastructure and establishing state-of-the-art research facilities in order to create excellence in S&T in women universities.
• Vigyan Jyoti Scheme
  • It was launched by the DST to create a level-playing field for the meritorious girls in high school to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in their higher education.
  • It also offers exposure for girl students from the rural background to help to plan their journey from school to a job of their choice in the field of science.
• Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI)
  • The GATI was launched by the DST to develop a comprehensive Charter and a framework for assessing gender equality in STEM.
  • In the first phase of GATI, 30 educational and research institutes have been selected by DST, with a focus on women’s participation in leadership roles, faculty, and the numbers of women students and researchers. 

Way Forward

• A Revamp of Bhatnagar Awards and Nomination Process
  • Some reports suggest a revamp of the Bhatnagar awards is underway and the updated version is expected to be more transparent.
  • One can only hope that CSIR will finally open up to the possibility of making information about nominations and advisory committees public.
  • Without this, there is no possibility for a study of nomination patterns and a subsequent data-led strategy to improve the gap.
• Equal Importance to Women Scientists
  • As the largest R&D organisation in India employing over 4,000 scientists, CSIR cannot afford to be agnostic to the issue of women’s underrepresentation in science.
  • In 2022, electrochemical engineer N Kalaiselvi was appointed as its chief; she is the first woman to hold this role.
  • The same year it also conducted a gender parity survey, which revealed that less than 20 per cent of its scientific staff were women and disclosed that the share of funding received by women was not commensurate with this.
  • CSIR must work on how it can give equal importance to women scientists and work on their funding.

Conclusion

• CSIR’s continuing track record when it comes to the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize is disheartening.
• The women-in-science discourse has spiked in recent years but there is hardly any accountability for the issues affecting the careers of women scientists.
• Therefore, discrimination in any form needs to be questioned in order to achieve inclusivity in the Indian science community.

Q1) What is CSIR?

The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), known for its cutting edge R&D knowledge base in diverse S&T areas, is a contemporary R&D organisation. CSIR has a dynamic network of 37 national laboratories, 39 outreach centres, 1 Innovation Complexes, and three units with a pan-India presence. CSIR’s R&D expertise and experience are embodied in about 3521active Scientists supported by about 4162 technical and support personnel as of 31st March 2022.

Q2) What is Women Involvement in Science and Engineering Research (WISER)?

It was launched by the Indo-German Science & Technology Centre (IGSTC) for encouraging women researchers in joint R&D projects. WISER will enable gender equality and women’s participation in Science and Technology through IGSTC’s program.

Source: The Indian Express